Tag: Magical Realism

Review: The Antidote

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Title: The Antidote
Author: Karen Russell
Pages: 432
Release: March 11, 2025

Karen Russell uses the historic Black Sunday dust storm as the backdrop for her interwoven, intergenerational, and inter-temporal slice of American history – complete with a prairie witch who can unburden her patients from painful memories, a sentient scarecrow, murder, mayhem, dust, and basketball. Russell’s dust-choked world is perfectly rendered with beautiful prose and well-researched detail, the heavy dose of magical realism seamlessly woven into this historical-fiction tale and bringing unexpected life to a barren world.

She unpacks the “collapse of memory” in fascinating ways, offering the perspectives of the land and its collective inhabitants – each of them ill-informed, or at the very least, ill-at-ease, shaped by forces they cannot fully comprehend.

The Antidote has all the makings of a modern American classic, and I know it will stick with me for a good long while.

★★★★½

My thanks to my public library for providing me with a post-release copy in exchange nothing at all!

Review: Sky Full of Elephants

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Title: Sky Full of Elephants
Author: Cebo Campbell
Pages: 304
Release: September 10, 2024

A bold, high-concept premise brought into sharp focus by Cebo Campbell’s lively and vibrant prose.

A twist on a familiar formula (see The Leftovers or The Last of Us) – here, all white people walk into the sea and never return. What follows is the quest of an estranged father and daughter seeking common ground as they trek across a fundamentally altered version of America.

I really enjoyed Campbell’s writing style. It is lively and flows smoothly from page to page, making it a true pleasure to read. It effortlessly conveys the complexities of the new world and the complicated feelings of the characters that inhabit it.

An eyebrow-raising plot development in the latter half of the book recontextualizes the way the story is understood. And while certain plot beats push the boundaries of plausibility, they are grounded in the magical realism that permeates the narrative.

★★★★

My thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Reviewer note: Anecdotally, I noticed a batch of 1-star ratings (not reviews) popping up on Goodreads for this title – presumably a blind backlash to the plot description. Please don’t make assumptions about what the book is actually about. At no point do any characters rejoice in the absence of white people. It’s not a wish-fulfillment parable about how to make the world a better place. It’s a fascinating “what-if” scenario that shines a necessary light on the unvarnished realities of the country and who controls the levers of power and influence in our society. There’s no trivialization of the subject matter and the book offers many intriguing examinations of race and racial identity. Give this book a chance, and if you can’t, don’t blindly bomb the ratings.

Review: Siren Queen

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Title: Siren Queen (May 10, 2022)
Author: Nghi Vo
Pages: 288

Luli Wei was overlooked by the masses until she made it impossible to look away. After striking a brutal bargain to achieve her dreams, Wei finds her home on the silver screen. What follows is a mesmerizing (and hair-raising) coming of age tale about Luli’s rise into the spotlight.

Nghi Vo’s Old Hollywood is painted with a dreamlike brush. There’s a phantasmagoric haze over every event and every interaction. It’s mesmerizing and disturbing in equal measure. And, as impressed as I was with the tone and prose – I struggled to stay invested in Luli’s story as I found it a bit overstuffed and all over the place. Others will surely love this, but it was not quite my cup of tea when all was said and done.

★★★

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.